I'm pretty sure that the law won't help you since it's not mandatory that you talk at all on your cell phone while in the car. The law will tell you that it's your responsibility as the driver to comply with the law and just because your car can connect to your phone via Bluetooth, doesn't mean that you have to use the phone. If you break the law by operating your cell phone in your car because the car doesn't have a completely hands-free Bluetooth device, the onus is on you. There are plenty of states where using a cell phone in a car without a hands-free device is illegal. There are also plenty of cars sold in those states that have Bluetooth devices similar to the '10 Golfs and JSWs.

I understand why people are upset and the fact that various other VW models do offer a completely hands-free Bluetooth experience makes the knife in your back twist that much more. But c'mon, filing a legal complaint against VW? Oh the U.S. and our ever more litigious society. Must we always blame someone else when we're unhappy?

I digress!

I believe the rub comes because of the complete lack of knowledge / and or avoidance of the issue from the VW sales staff in gerenal regarding the topic. I asked a number of them at different dealerships about the functionality and they all had no idea and/or would refer you to the manual (which BTW, implies that you will have data on the MFI and had me thinking I was doing something wrong by not being able to select it myself until I stumbled onto this thread). Put a prospective buyer in the SW, show them all these neat controls on the wheel and the headliner, the buyer belives that they will have handsfree functionality. Couple that with, after the fact, they buyer finds out that the 2010 SW's have an inferior BT unit, it would piss me off also. If I had a 9w2, I'd just bite the bullet and purcase a new 9w3 module, but it wouldn't feel good.

Put a prospective buyer in the SW, show them all these neat controls on the wheel and the headliner, the buyer belives that they will have handsfree functionality.

Hopefully this buyer will take a test drive of the car and test out ALL the features that she finds important and will be using, I know I did. As soon as I drove away from the dealership I pulled into an empty lot and synced up the bluetooth on my '09 Sedan. I had to look in the manual to see how it worked, and I found out what it did and did not do.

Honestly, only the most anal of anal people are going to be barking about this. Enthusiast sites just happen to be where these anal folk gather and this is where the rub is. Honestly, 9 out of 10 drivers probably don't give a rats ass about the functionality of the BT system as long as it allows them to have a speakerphone converstaion in the cabin via some means.

If some trivial BT functionality is going to stop someone from buying a USD $25-30K car, then I think a priorities assement is called for. VW is not being deceitful or anything, they just have different levels of offerings.

my car had the 9w2 system with the roof buttons and limited functionality. i just bought the 9w3 system module on ebay from the same place others did in poland and had them code it for my car before they sent it, opened the box at the post office parking lot, leaned over to the passenger seat, unplugged the 9w2 and plugged in the 9w3 unit, started the car, entered 1234 on my phone for bluetooth pairing, and by the time i got 2 miles down the road the mfd had sync-ed with all 2500+ contacts in my phone, showed all my recent/missed/dialed phone calls and was ready to make a call. was worth the $300 plus shipping! has been working great. of course, it would have been nice to have this system from the factory. overhead console buttons and led don't operate now...i kind of liked the flashing led that indicated when your phone was paired-steady green, when active call-flashing green and when not paired-yellow...minor thing but i thought it was pretty cool and helpful to keep track of phone status...

my car had the 9w2 system with the roof buttons and limited functionality. i just bought the 9w3 system module on ebay from the same place others did in poland and had them code it for my car before they sent it, opened the box at the post office parking lot, leaned over to the passenger seat, unplugged the 9w2 and plugged in the 9w3 unit, started the car, entered 1234 on my phone for bluetooth pairing, and by the time i got 2 miles down the road the mfd had sync-ed with all 2500+ contacts in my phone, showed all my recent/missed/dialed phone calls and was ready to make a call. was worth the $300 plus shipping! has been working great. of course, it would have been nice to have this system from the factory. overhead console buttons and led don't operate now...i kind of liked the flashing led that indicated when your phone was paired-steady green, when active call-flashing green and when not paired-yellow...minor thing but i thought it was pretty cool and helpful to keep track of phone status...

Do your steering buttons or voice command work? Or do you have to access the dialing directory by the nav screen??

My 2010 Jetta tdi sedan works great with the iPhone. The only issue I have is the ringer on the system (not the iphone's) is extremely loud when I get a call. Is there a way to turn this off or down substantially? The voice control "woman" is also loud. It's startling when you're driving down the road and you get a call...

I was really disappointed to learn that my '10 TDI JSW does not have the fully functional bluetooth fsystem. Despite instructions in my﻿ manuals telling me that this is the case, and being told by the sales staff I can only receive calls on the BT system. Putting the 9W2 system in the TDI JSW vs the 9W3 is BS.

I'm headed back to the dealer tonight to see if I can get this remedied.

In the even that I am shafted on this, can someone please reply with a source for the correct module? Can you get them from the dealer network here or do you have to order them from overseas? Canada?

I think that there is at best a big mistake on the part of VW-NA if not intentional obfuscation of the features of their cars given that the window sticker, sales professional and owners manual all individually indicated that the car had the full bluetooth functionality despite that not being the case.

I asked the dealer to file a complaint to VW-NA to that effect. I feel that by virtue of the fact that every indication I was given told me to expect a certain feature that was not present VW-NA should provide a solution in the form of a coded and installed 9W3 module.

To which I am pretty certain someone will reply "Well you should have checked yadda-yadda." Seriously, I think that a customer has a reasonable expectation that the printed documentation and the explanations of the sales staff accurately represent the features of the vehicle without requiring me to personally verify each. I mean, they told me the engine is 4-cylinders.....should I have pulled the cylinder head to verify that too? Perhaps taken it to a dyno to verify horsepower and torque?

I can understand you feeling shafted. The brochure for the JSW is vague at best, and really doesn't make it clear that the Bluetooth system is a bit limited. Likewise, my dealer was also clueless about this fact, hell, they thought there was a CD changer somewhere in the car.

While at the dealer this evening I looked at a couple of other window stickers in comparison to mine. There is no discernable difference between the description of the Bluetooth feature on 9W2 vs 9W3 equipped cars.

Seriously, I think that a customer has a reasonable expectation that the printed documentation and the explanations of the sales staff accurately represent the features of the vehicle without requiring me to personally verify each. I mean, they told me the engine is 4-cylinders.....should I have pulled the cylinder head to verify that too? Perhaps taken it to a dyno to verify horsepower and torque?

That expectation strikes me as very reasonable, but ...

Given the century-long history of less than truthful representation of cars by salespeople, it is also the responsibility of the customer to carefully check what is important to him. If the engine is your top concern, then a road test would tell you, regardless of number of cylinders or manufacturer's claims, whether it has enough torque and HP to satisfy you.

Ditto Bluetooth. Two minutes with your cell phone in hand would tell the story.

A big issue for me was whether our dog crate would fit. Did I rely on the sales brochure or a "sure it will" from the salesman (based on how it fits in my wife's Passat)? Of course not.